Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1887-01-10

are the legitimate reward of business
methods and thorough system, from
breaking to marketing"
The low price of wheat is, of course,
an unqualified misfortune. But, the
fact existing through circumstances be-
yOnd anybody's control. the practical
/ question IS, how TO make the best of it.
If the farmer loses at one end of the
/ business, he must try TO gain il at the
other. If wheat has fallen in the world 5
markets, he must make good the deficit
by decreasing the cost of production.
The thing can be done by increasing
the yield per acre. la estimating cost
of production. the cost of labor in plow-
ing, seeding, harvesting. threshing and
marketing, per acre, are added to-
gether. The total is divided by the
average yield per acre, giving the aver
age cost of production per bushel
Now, it is obvious, that, if the expendi-
ture on an acre is divided by thirteen,
the average number of bushels raised
TO the acre, the resulting cost of produc-
duction will be nearly twice as great
as if we were to divide by twenty five,
the number of bushels per acre which
the rich soil of the Northwest will easily
yield under thorough cultivation. We
desire to make this argument fair, as
we'll as earnest The cost of produce
ton given ia the case cited by the
Farmer-less these 81 cents per bushel
lis below the average figure. 1t holds
good for large farming, where the pro-
duct Is $50, 900 bushels, and where the
economies of conducting any business
on u large scale and according to the
wholesale plan, can be brought INTO
play. But the saving IS there, all the
same.
A close computation, made some time
ago. shows that the cost of wheat pro-
duction, by the old, wasteful system, is
to the large farmer, from 10 to so, and
to the small farmer from so TO 60 cents
per bushel. This is on the basis of an
average yield of not more than fifteen
bushels per acre. Now, what do we
find? The large farmer, by adopting
the careful methods in use in older and
and more economical communities. by
thorough cultivation and summer fal-
lowing, can raise his average crop to
twenty-five bushels per acre. The cost
OF raising the greater amount being
about the same as that of the less, 1t
follows that, for him, the cost of produc-
tion is reduced nearly one-half. That
margin is clear profit. The small
farmer can do the same thing. BY bet
ter cultivation, he can, at little, if any
greater expense, secure the same yield
of twenty five bushels per acre. That
would lower the cost of production to
him from between so and 90, to between
80 and 40 cents per bushel There
would be very comfortable profit in
that, even with wheat at lower prices
than it has reached, or is likely to
reach. We desire for the farmer of the
Northwest ever advantage possible.
We hope that be may have lower taxes,
and railroad freight rates as reasonable
as are anywhere known. But, with all
these, he must still work out his own
salvation. He must cease to use his
land as be uses expensive farm ma
chinery, which usually becomes WORTH
less after few years, by reason of lack
or ordinary care. He must appropriate
the millions that are offered him in pro-
fit by reducing the cost of cultivation,
merely as premium upon careful, in
teligent, economical methods of tillage.
So. Paul Pioneer Press.